Giving The Gift Of Life
Giving the Gift of Life
Tanya Dunn
Axia College of University of Phoenix
COM 150 Effective Essay Writing
Professor Sharon Tyler
December 22, 2007
In the US, 6.1 million Americans are affected by infertility (American Society for Reproductive Medicine, 2000-2007). The Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility (1999) defines infertility as “the inability of a couple to achieve a pregnancy after one year of unprotected sexual intercourse, or the inability of the woman to carry a pregnancy to live birth. Primary infertility indicates that the patient has never achieved a pregnancy, whereas secondary infertility denotes that a previous pregnancy was achieved, regardless of outcome.” (para. 51). Surrogacy, one of the few options for couples experiencing infertility, is an arrangement for a woman to carry and give birth to a child to be raised by someone else, usually with a pre-arranged contract (Adoption Media, LLC, 1995-2007). There are two types of surrogacy: traditional surrogacy (TS) and gestational surrogacy (GS). Surrogacy is a wonderful option that provides infertile couples a way to have children.
Traditional Surrogacy
In a traditional surrogacy, the surrogate mother (SM) is genetically related to the child because she uses her egg. The medical screenings and testing procedures for a TS, while similar to those of a GS, are not as intense as the testing a GS must go through, and usually consist of a pap smear, physical, and infectious disease testing; as well as a psychological evaluation to determine the “motivations, attitudes and commitment to the surrogacy process.” (P., 1997-1999, para. 8).
The procedures for TS are less demanding physically, medically, and legally speaking and generally require little to no medical intervention. Traditional surrogates usually do not take any medications and do artificial inseminations – any procedure that places sperm inside a woman’s reproductive tract other than by...
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